A new Maui high school that is scheduled to open in the spring was officially named Kulanihako‘i High School on Thursday. The Hawaii Board of Education approved the recommendation for the school whose placeholder name was Kihei High School.

“Kulanihako‘i gulch is a vital part of a connected system of upland watersheds, gulches, streams, underground springs, aquifers, flood plains, and wetlands,” wrote Board of Education Superintendent Keith Hayashi in his written request to the BOE chairperson, Bruce Voss. “The proposed school name provides a connection to the school site, it is historically and culturally relevant, and it encourages students to think of their connection to water and the land as a whole: from mauka to makai.”

The new high school began educating its first class of ninth graders this fall at a temporary location at Lokelani Intermediate until phase II of construction is completed at the end of 2022, according to a DOE news release. Next fall it will begin 10th grade education, and will add on one higher grade each year until it accommodates grades nine through 12.

The school was named after one of the two gulches that the new high school is situated between.

Kulanihako‘i is also the name of a mythical pond in the sky that sheds rain onto the earth whenever it overflows, according to Hayashi’s letter.

The gulch also once sustained the Ka‘ono‘ulu ahu­pua‘a, where the new high school is situated, by irrigating its farms and fishponds.

The school’s principal, Halle Maxwell, led the efforts for the school’s official naming. She worked with Native Hawaiians in the community, some of which included educators, historians, archaeologists and researchers, who volunteered their time researching various name options.

Some of the other names considered included Kula/Kula Kai High School, Kiha-a-Pi‘ilani High School, Patsy T. Mink High School and Kihei High School, according to complex area Superintendent Jamie Yap’s written request to Hayashi.

Kihei High School and Kulanihako‘i High School were the two most popular names based on surveys conducted from the community and students from Lokelani Intermediate, which will be a feeder school for the new high school.

But Maxwell was alerted to a potential problem with the name, Kihei High School. The nearby Kihei Charter School already had been using its similar name since 2001, and as a result, stakeholders decided that Kulanihako‘i would be the better choice.

In a written news release, Maxwell expressed her thanks to the volunteers who contributed their expertise to honor Hawaiian culture and the history of the land in the naming process.

“The official naming of our campus is a long-awaited decision that will give our school community a unified identity and our students a proud shared history throughout their lives,” she wrote.

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Linsey Dower covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.